Nikola Jokic would love nothing more than to cap an unexpectedly stellar calendar year than to be named to the Serbian National Team for the Olympic qualifying tournament this summer.

“Oh my gosh,” Jokic said. “I would be really honored to play for my country.”

Jokic was not on last year’s team, which lost the third-place game in EuroBasket 2015. And who knows if he would have been? It was by design that he did not participate — the Nuggets wanted him in town to play summer league and workout prior to this, his rookie season.

“It was fine,” Jokic said.

But after this season, one that saw Jokic voted to play in the Rising Stars challenge and become a clear core player in the Nuggets’ future, he may get the nod. If he does, he’ll happily accept.

The Nuggets have a few players who will play for their country in Olympic qualifiers. And that’s fine by coach Michael Malone.

“Biggest concern is you don’t want your guys getting hurt,” Malone said. “But I step back and look at Danilo (who) has a chance to bring Italy to the Olympics. Joffrey, France to the Olympics; Nikola, Serbia to the Olympics. That is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. So we fully support those guys.”

Adsit attends game. The Nuggets had a special guest in the crowd — veteran Denver police officer John Adsit, who attended his first Nuggets game since being discharged from Porter Adventist Hospital in February. He was in critical care there for a month, undergoing 11 surgeries to repair crushed ribs, a punctured lung, a severed artery in his leg, a broken femur, a cracked pelvis and other injuries. Also, his spleen was removed and he battled internal bleeding, pneumonia, vision loss, fever and infection.

All injuries happened when he, along with two other officers, were hit by a car as they — all on bikes — monitored Denver East High students who walked out in protest as part of the Black Lives Matter movement. Adsit, also a coach at Gold Crown, is an avid basketball fan.

Chris Dempsey arrived at The Denver Post in Dec. 2003 after seven years at the Boulder Daily Camera, where he primarily covered the University of Colorado football and men's basketball teams. A University of Colorado-Boulder alumnus, Dempsey covers the Nuggets and also chips in on college sports.